Awaiting Imprint
by AlitaMae
Summary: Some of the guys said our bond was broken. I preferred to say that our imprint was on hold, awaiting like a phone call. We just needed to wait for a miraculous voice letting us know that our bond was mended and ready.
1. Chapter 1

No matter how many times my parents had told me the legends before bedtime or how noticeable the changes in La Push's boys had been, I never thought they could be real. Stories of ancestors, wolfs, imprints and cold ones were supposed to be legends. Tales to be told around fire or to children to help them fall asleep with the nice image that they were protected, that the good always win.

I always begged for more of those stories, desperately needing to lose myself in another world even at a young age. When I grew older, I still enjoyed hearing them every once in a while, rejoicing myself in the warmth they brought upon me. When my dad kindly made me question if they were real, I played along with him but in my head it was always a no. I just couldn't believe we humans were able to suddenly burst into hairy animals in order to protect our tribe. And given the case, just how human would those creatures be? I never thought that wolfs were more than just wild animals.

Not until I found myself running along them.

It wasn't easy to accept, but once it happened, the world seemed to make sense in the weirdest of ways. Unasked questions suddenly had answers and little lost pieces fell into their rightful place once we understood. We also understood that the good didn't always win in this life, unfortunately, and that we weren't protected -but we would make sure the tribe was.

I knew this life wasn't 'normal'. It shouldn't feel normal, but it did. It was our reality, our family, our pack...

Our imprint.

Some of the guys said our bond was broken. I preferred to say that our imprint was on hold, awaiting like a phone call. We just needed to wait for a miraculous voice letting us know that our bond was mended and ready. Ready to be used and not being tested at every waking second.

I understood that we were one of the most controversial imprints. And that this imprint -in most people's eyes- should have never happened... But it had.

It had and now they were desperately trying to make us understand just the gravity of it. Just how strong it was. The importance of it. How wrong it was. How right it would be. How we wouldn't be able to fight it. How we didn't want to fight it.

They understood, of course. I just wished we could.


	2. Newborns' Trouble

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Anything you recognize from the Twiligtht saga is property of Stephanie Mayer.**

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><p><em>Watch out to your left, Quil!<em>

_Wh- Woah! Got her! That was close._

_Good. The more we get, the sooner we can leave. _

To say that the newborns were surprised when we –and by 'we' I mean a whole pack of huge wolves- showed up to fight them along with the Cullens right in the middle of their battlefield was putting it kindly. As soon as we had appeared there, half of them froze, only coming back to their senses when they were yelled at by the guy who we suppose was their leader.

I quickly ran to Embry to help him get rid of the male vampire who was running to try and get on his back while he was tearing the arm off of the blonde that had jumped at him from his right. I grabbed the male leech forcefully between my canine teeth, and pushed him off Embry before he got too close. The leech landed on the floor surprisingly well for a newborn, slightly crouching down into a defensive pose. I growled at him bending my head down too while we started to slowly circle each other. We never took our eyes of the other. We were ready for the other to attack first.

_Leah, move out of the way, for God's sake! Let me take this one!_

_Don't tell me what to do, Jared. I can take them. Go help Quil._

_Don't worry, bro. I got it. _

_I'm glad you're all having fun but would someone come here and help me?!_

As soon as those words came out of Paul's mouth- I mean, mind- my head instantly snapped towards his direction to see what trouble he was into. He was fighting three leeches at once. He wasn't losing, but that couldn't be a walk in the park either. These bloodsuckers were a pain in the face when they wanted to. Especially those newy ones.

_Watch out, Salali! _

In the same moment Sam's warning reached my mind, I turned quickly towards the dark haired leech. Paul's comment had me forgetting that I was currently dealing with a leech of my own.

I saw him coming towards me ready to get his arms around my neck when I –out of instinct more than strategy- jumped into my hind legs and collided my front paws into his chest, sending him flying before running as fast as I could towards Paul, starting to work as quickly as I could to get the three suckers off of him.

I could hear Jacob cursing and sending mental threats at the dark haired vampire as he went running after him. But I tried to block any thoughts concerning him as I focused on taking the harm off my pack brother.

I just hoped the leech wouldn't get his hands on him. I knew Jake was one of the best fighters, but as I said, these newy vamps are a pain in the face. More of a bother than a danger, really. Still, a pain was never good. Thankfully he seemed to be doing well, probably out of anger. Maybe if I hurried to help Paul I could go to him-

_Focus, Salali!_

Right. Right. Sorry.

Sam was frustrated with me, I could tell. Then again, when wasn't he? I was probably the one who got on his nerves the most. Even more than Paul.

Paul!

I did as Sam said: I focused and I took place besides the dark silver wolf and growled lowly at the three figures in front of us.

The group of leeches was formed by two females and a male, all three of them standing front of us. The female on my far right, slightly closer to Paul fell into a more offensive crouch as soon as he saw another wolf arrive. Now she was looking nervously at her two comrades. Poor loser, she probably thought I was a real threat to them.

The one closest to me, almost directly in front of me was the small, dirty blonde female. She was barely any taller than Alice. But if I learnt something from all the very few times I've met with leeches, was that you should _never_ make assumptions based on their appearance, that you had to wait until you saw them moving so that you could make right assumptions.

Silently, we agreed that that one would me my leech. I still hadn't fully dominated the art of fighting. So if there was a leech who seemed to be physically weaker than the rest –or easier to catch and tear apart, everyone assumed and delivered that one to me while them being the big ones took care of any 'real' challenges.

To be honest, I also suspected it was to keep me out of any real danger. Jacob's constant worry probably annoyed them a lot. After a bit, they learned not to tease him about it. They also understood he couldn't help it. The way in which Jacob cared for me was beyond that. I didn't have any proofs, but I'm quite sure that Jake and Sam had a talk in which they discussed those issues. After all, I _was_ the youngest, newest member of the pack -meaning that also made me the smallest and the less experienced one. It really wasn't a big surprise that they didn't trust me much. I still wasn't very skilled; everything that I did was on pure instinct. I hadn't been on the pack for long, but it amazed me how quickly the bond between pack mates ignited.

Paul's growl beside me pulled me out of my thoughts -and judging by his, he was annoyed with me for getting lost in my own mind again, especially when my mind went to deep places.

_Sorry_, I thought. If I was in my human form, I was sure to be blushing by now. Oh, and probably leaving the place.

_You better try to keep that in mind so we can finish them off_, he growled. He wasn't exactly happy to be stuck Itty Bitty Salali.

Having the guys and Leah in my mind was something that bothered me, mostly because they could see things I wish they didn't. Even with that, I couldn't deny that it was helpful when they knew the right things to say to coerce me into my fighting mood.

I nodded to show him I was focused. Wrong move.

The leeches seemed to take this as a sign that we were ready to attack, or as we agreeing into some evil plan to get them killed –because as soon as I was done nodding, the female that wasn't the one I would be taking care off let out some kind of battle cry and went running all full vampire speed towards Paul.

Before I could even think, I had one of my very rare moments of spontaneity and launched myself towards that little leech, taking her torso in between my teeth. Once I landed with her still on my mouh, I applied some pressure to the bite just so she got the message. I whipped my head back and threw her to the other side of the field with as much force as I could muster to make sure she wasn't coming back any time soon.

_Damn it, Salali! _

That was one of the nicest of thoughts he could throw at me right now, but I couldn't focus too much on them. As soon as I glanced away from the female who was now dealing with Emmett, my eyes met red.

Paul had taken it upon himself to take care of the male leech after my mistake. Well, he probably didn't have much of a choice. As Jasper had said, these newborns –much like me- were pure instinct; so I can only assume that as soon as I took matters with the female on my hands, the other two jumped to attack the new enemy now that they had one less wolf to worry about and there were two of them, they probably thought they had a chance to bring Paul down.

As if.

Without a doubt Paul was one of the worst tempered men I knew, but that came to his own benefit when it came to fighting.

Before I could even wrap my mind on what I was seeing, my pack brother had already tore the male up and had the dirty blonde leech –the one who was going to be my leech- under his paw, tearing her head off.

_Good job, Paul._

_Yeah, no thanks to yo-_

_Enough. Salali, go back to work or leave._

_Preferably the second one_, added Jake with a sour tone.

I started running towards where most of the fight was happening just to make myself look busy while I waited to receive orders that never came. When the orders still never came, I had to ask:

_Sam, what do you I do?_

Unfortunately, I wasn't one that was able to decide easily. I always avoided it whenever I could… One of the reasons why I wasn't any good at wolfy issues. My lack of making decisions, being impulsive or ability to focus altogether surely didn't make me a good fighter.

Jake gave a little growl. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on blocking my thoughts from view again –it wasn't easy, but I had faith that if I kept on trying I would eventually succeed… or that they would get tired and just stop listening to my thoughts all together.

_I'm busy now -Embry be careful!- Find something, if not go back to your original position,_ Sam suggested hurriedly to keep on fighting his own leech. Thankfully, there weren't many leeches left.

_Right!_ I turned around to start jogging towards the end of the clear space in where the battle was going on to make sure no leech could get out to try and escape towards the reservation. That's what I enjoyed the most and made me feel a bit more content with this furry life. At the end of the day, I knew I helped protect innocent people and that kept me sane.

Once I got behind the safety of the trees, I started watching the battle to keep an eye on any leech on the loose. By the looks of it, we wouldn't be here for long. Some members of the Cullen's clan had started to light some branches while the blonde started to collect all the pale limbs scattered on the ground to toss them into the fire before they had any chance to start reattaching. I decided to look somewhere else. I didn't feel like throwing up.

Quil, Jared and Paul had started to help collecting the limbs of the dead leaches, grabbing as much as they could in between their mouths and running to toss them into the fire to complete the death of the vampires. Sam was tearing apart the last leech that was still trying to put a fight –did he honestly think he stood a chance against him? Leah and Jacob were the only ones still fighting with a female vampire- never mind. The velocity in which those two could take someone down was amazing. Especially Jacob. Even if he didn't want to assume his role as Alpha, it was impossible not to notice he was the rightful one. His skills were incredible. Though Sam was amazing and a great Alpha, Jacob was a natural.

While I was watching them a white blur out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Frowning, I focused my vision on the place I saw it in and found a leech running off, trying to escape the sentence to death that would follow him if he stayed on the battlefield. Too bad for him that it was my job to look for vampires on the loose.

I took off quickly, yet as silently as I could, letting the trees hide my wolf form until they couldn't hide me no more. The leech –who I now saw was a male- got himself lost as soon as he stepped into the woods and had gone back to the border of the battlefield, thinking he'd go unnoticed. So needless to say I took off after him, running by the limits of the clearing. He still hadn't seen me, that gave me the upper hand. I decided to land softly on my feet even as I gained speed to keep it that way.

_Good job, Salali_. I smiled inwardly at the praise; as emotionless as it was, I rarely ever got those from anyone.

_Thank you, Sam._

I could see through the pack's mind that some of my brothers had already phased back into their human form with Sam's permission and that one of them was going to see if Seth was okay –he'd been attacked by a pair of leeches while he was looking out for Bella, but both leeches were dead now. The only ones left on the now empty battlefield were Jacob, Leah, Embry, Jared and Sam.

I was only feet away from the leech when I landed on a twig which cracked under my weight, alerting the vampire of my presence. He barely turned his head to look at me before he took off running full leech speed towards right, to try and hide himself into the trees. But I'm a giant wolf and he's extra pale. I think I'd handle trees better than him

He had stepped some more meters into the woods when I jumped at his back. We both fell to the ground, him trapped under the weight of my heavy paws.

I let out a growl, part out of the fake invincible feeling catching a leech gave me and part out to intimidate the vampire a bit more –even if he seemed scared enough as I was because he kept on moving his arms trying to escape. I needed all the help I could get when it came to intimidating. Whenever they spared me a second look or knew me for a minute, they all understood that I was not something to be feared… even if I was supposed to be.

Now came the hard part. Actually killing the leech.

It was something I never was able to fully do. To be honest, I haven't been in the pack for long –I had just joined shortly after Brady did- so I barely had any experience other than the casual chase, patrol or the few lessons we had with the Cullens. If I trapped a vampire by some weird change of faith, I just made sure to keep them were they were until someone else would come and finish them off. Ripping a leg or two was as far as I went, and that's because the foolish bloodsucker wouldn't stay in place, even when he knew he was going to die anyway.

Unfortunately, the other wolves were all the way to the other side of the clearing. Just when I thought about calling someone to come kill the leech soon, Leah got in trouble with a leech of her own. The bastard had her by the neck, trying to snap it in two.

I gasped as I could almost feel my sister's pain by her thoughts. Before I could even take time to think about Leah getting hurt or take off running to take the damn vampire off her so he wouldn't hurt her –something Sam was already scolding me for-, Jacob got there to save the day. And our sister, quickly being dismissed after that.

But I couldn't pay much attention to that either. The leech struggling underneath me had started crying, begging me to release him.

_You know what to do, Salali_, thought Jared, his mind filling with thoughts of the training lessons with the Cullens. I wasn't allowed to practice as the rest of them. I was just allowed to watch, seeing as the lessons weren't too far away from the first time I phased. But I still appreciated the reminder he sent my way to help me. Jared was really kind, I could tell he did care about me as a sister and he treated me as such. Even if we weren't in the pack together, I'm pretty sure we'd still be good friends.

I barked at the back of the leech's head, making him beg for his life once again.

In one swift motion, I placed my right paw on one of his shoulders. Digging my claws in his marble skin, I made sure to turn him around harshly and show my teeth in his face to intimidate him. Hopefully, he'd shut up that way. There was no need to make this harder than it had to be.

But as soon as I bared my teeth at him with a growl, that growl turned into a whine.

The vampire lying was around the guy's age. Fifteen? Maybe sixteen. His black hair was swept to a side, letting the round eyes in his slightly muscular frame show.

The fear behind those black eyes of his couldn't be fake. If the information we had was truth, he probably didn't choose this –who would? What boy at sixteen would choose to become a bloodsucker? Did he even knew about them? Or was he one of the innocents who thought that lived in a world where such things like magic didn't exist?

"P-Please," he begged in a voice just above a whisper. Not only his voice but his eyes were begging for his life –or as much life as a dead thing could have. But still, he was a kid. He wasn't playing me. He really wanted to live.

_Someone go get her._

_I'm on it._

Not even Sam's annoyed groan or Jacob's confident tone made me stop looking at the boy's face.

Because that's what he was, just a boy. He couldn't be older than sixteen –four years above me. He had dark hair and chubby cheeks that if it weren't for his paleness, his red eyes, or the reason why he didn't have a beating heart under my paw, those cheeks would have a pretty rosy tint on them.

I whined before I could stop it.

"Please. P-Please don't kill me… Please…" he begged. He decided to try his luck after noticing how hard it was for me and how I was doing nothing to destroy him, as he had seen others like me destroying others like him.

But how could I just simply destroy him? He was a boy, no much older nor younger than us. I was sure he hadn't wanted this, that this life had been forced onto him… Like the furry life had been forced in us.

He was just someone who fell face first into a supernatural world left to fend for himself, scared and thirsty. In many aspects he was like us –only that instead of landing in four paws, he grew fangs. And instead of having someone to teach him how to use that supernaturalism for good, he had someone who encouraged him to kill as he pleased. He was scared. If he had blood running through his veins instead of venom I was sure I would've smelled it when I pinned him down.

I whined again, not pressing his chest as hard anymore, and bowed my head.

I couldn't do it. I knew I had to, I wouldn't live at peace knowing there was one more of this kind that could kill our humans or hurt my pack. But I couldn't kill him either. It wasn't fair for him. Maybe I could convince the Cullens to teach him their life style, so he wouldn't be a threat. If he wasn't a threat there was no need to kill him …

I wasn't able to finish that line of thought because suddenly a large –much larger than me- russet wolf had grabbed the boy underneath me by his legs, trying to get me off him. I turned around right away and barked, grabbing the boy's arm gently between my teeth and pulling him slightly, trying to get the message across.

_No._

_Salali, enough._

Enough my butt. Alpha or not, he wouldn't hurt the boy. The boy with dark hair who was crying dry tears pleading for his life…

_Sal, go back if you don't want to see, _ Jacob tried to be comforting but he used a tone close to harsh –a tone he never used with me, all while keeping his hold around the boy's knees. I whined.

He was a boy who didn't want that life. Why couldn't they understand it? How could they want to punish him for something he didn't even mean to?

_He's a leech!_

_He didn't want to become one!_ I screeched, pulling the boy's arm a bit more. I could feel him shaking while he tried to get closer to me; maybe he understood that I was the one who held a slight chance at saving him.

_How do you know that for sure?!_

_Enough! _Samordered with his Alpha voice. _Salali, help Jacob finishing him or come here. Now. Either way the leech will join the others in the fire._

He obviously knew what my choice out of the two would be.

But I settled for neither.

Something I regretted when I saw Embry and Jared appearing behind Jake's wolf form, Sam's black wolf slowly following.

I breathed heavily. I didn't know what to do. I knew what I should do but that doesn't mean is what I want. Or what's right.

_Sali,I know this is hard for you. That's why I'm going to ask you one last time to come here before I make you do it. _

Sam's order weighed on me. I could feel my body wanting to bow before him, bare my neck to him and do as he said. But I fought it. My legs shifting confusedly; torn between following orders and doing what I wanted.

Thankfully, at some level, Alpha orders weren't as hard on me as on the rest. I could somewhat resist them if I wanted to, even if that was really uncomfortable and made me feel weird. The wolf in me could sense that Jacob was the true Alpha.

That's something I was thankful for, but I'm sure Sam doesn't think the same. Well, ninety nine percent of the pack isn't thankful for it either.

_Salali, listen to Sam_, Jacob asked softly, a tone I was much more used to. But I could still see in his mind he was starting to get bothered.

Letting out a whine, I was once again amazed by the power of an imprint's wish. All you want in life is for them to be happy, giving them what made them happy. And if doing as told is what makes them happy –as it did Jacob, then so be it. And if Jacob said it, then I really should go. He always thinks about what's best for me, so there was no reason for disbelieving him.

I slowly started to release the boy's arm, silently apologizing and praying I wouldn't cry in front of the guys. I'm not sure I could live through yet another teasing…

My thoughts were cut short when I heard a scream.

The boy who seconds ago had his arm between my teeth –not by choice- was now screaming as the russet wolf that had him by both his legs, took even more of his body between his teeth and tugged, abruptly moving his massive head to the side, ripping the young vampire's body in half.

I shrieked, pushing my body forward before giving it a second thought.

_Please sto- Ah! _

Embry knocked me aside with his head, causing me to fly and land six feet from them.

I tried to get up but Embry growled at me, showing me his teeth. The order was clear and I wasn't stupid enough to cross it. So I stayed put lying there, hearing rather than watching the vampire being torn apart slowly.

As much as it hurt to stay on the dirty ground, I didn't feel like crossing Embry. He was a good guy, and I know he would never seriously hurt me and risk Jacob slaughtering him, but still he was scary when he wanted to. And I knew that if he had to, he wouldn't hesitate to put me in my place -no one ever cared to deny that I was more of a bother than anything else to the pack.

I saw Embry's stance change into a less threatening one. Thoughts of him and Paul from when I first joined the pack, discussing my obvious lack of talent invaded his mind.I tried to make myself smaller, not wanting his pity or anyone to see where my thoughts were taking me.

Everyone knew I wasn't ready, that the wolfy things weren't as natural for me as for the rest of them.

Bringing me to the fight was a risk, but Sam knew that Jacob –an essential warrior- wouldn't focus if he was worrying about one of the newborns making a run for it, causing Brad, Collin and me problems. They failed to realize he wouldn't focus with me here either, for he'd be trying to fight my own battles. Imprinting is really much more troubling than what they make it out to be in the legends.

_Embry, get over here!_

_Look away, Sal._

Apparently newborns also could reattach their torn limbs much quicker than grown vampires. And this one was giving the guys one hell of a fight. He was on his feet, missing an arm but he had sprinted towards the thickness of the woods surrounding us. Before we could worry about it too much, Jared had him, snapping his head back and throwing him once again at his brother's feet, where the brutal dismembering took place once again.

It was an awful thing to hear the person being ripped apart fighting back with everything he had left and screamed blood curling screams. The guys were barking at him, trying to end him as soon as possible so we could leave.

Embry let out a shriek when the boy bit his leg, stepping back so he could lick at the wound while the others easily threw the pale male off his brother. I got on my feet at the scene before me, the danger of the situation getting to me. Even if we had the numbers and the powers, the boy seemed too fond of the phrase 'won't go down without a fight'. My mind raced not knowing if to jump in to help to prevent them from any injuries or if to step in but also help the boy…

_Neither_, Sam's voice decided. I turned to see him standing tall, acting as a wall between me and the four men fighting.

I breathed out, getting my thoughts together; realizing that if it was any true danger to his pack members he would have already stepped in.

_Exactly_, he nodded. _They're fine._

Yet my eyes had forgotten what Jared has asked of me and focused on the fight, or at least tried to focus on what I could see past huge, black wolf in front of me. The vampire was on his foot. _One_ foot, the other was nowhere to be seen. He was throwing his fist around as the guys rounded on him, every now on then jumping towards the boy to scare him.

_Let us have fun without worrying for once, would you?_

_The leech is a newborn, Sal. He doesn't know how to hurt us, he's just fast_, Jacob reassured. As if to prove his point, he jumped at the boy's side, easily ripping his other arm from his body with an awful dry noise resembling paper being ripped.

_Yeah, we're trying to amuse him before ending him._

I scrunched my nose. Why couldn't they make it easier for him? I wondered quietly,not wanting to hear the boy's cries no more.

_No kindness for leeches, remember?_ My imprinter reminded, though he didn't miss a beat from the quick dismembering now going on in front of him –they probably got tired of playing around with him and just decided to rip him all apart at once. Good. That way he won't suffer for much longer.

_Salali_, my Alpha called my attention towards him again. _I'm going to need you going back. Go back to Emily's and make sure everyone is there when we come back. Stay there. We shouldn't be long._

_Got it!_ I stood more confident, happy to have a task at hand. His lack of Alpha power in the sentence making me feel more at ease when he ordered something. As stupid as it was, it made me feel more confident, knowing that he trusted me enough as to not Alpha-command me to do things. Besides, there was no need for him to use it when he was asking something like that, he knew I would do as he said. I usually worked better when someone was asking something and not demanding it out of me.

Sam let out a wolfish chuckle at my easily excited personality and my waving tail as I took off. He then turned to the guys.

_Enough playing._

That was all he needed to say.

I had already ran almost a kilometer when I saw it in my mind –through their eyes- as they so easily finished dismembering the guy, carrying his parts in their mouths and started running towards the fire back in the battlefield.

I was heading back. My instincts taking control of my body and leading my heavy feet towards the fire.

With cloudy, rushed thoughts I stepped into the clearing and ran. The only piece left was the head, hanging from Sam's mouth.

_Salali?_ Jared was the first one to notice me, looking at me through his dark framed eyes. I couldn't stop and explain to him my reason when I noticed Sam nearing the fire. Maybe it wasn't too late to convince them.

_Sali? Salali! What happened? _

I wanted to tell Jacob not to worry, but my mind was racing, not fully understanding reality, nevertheless how to respond to him. It always happened when I freaked out. My thoughts rushed, blurred, making it difficult for anyone to try and read. It made him nervous not being able to decipher much from my blurry mind, for he never knew if I was freaking out for something good or bad.

_Salali!_

It was as if I had heard the guys' warning before doing the stupid thing I did.

Losing my mind and throwing myself at my Alpha's wolf was something very stupid, yet in that moment, my body decided it was the right thing to do.

He had barely whipped his head to see what was going on before I crashed with all of my body weight onto his right side, unbalancing him and making him lose his hold around the head as he barked in surprise.

We both fell heavily to the ground, my body on top of his. Taking advantage of his shock, I ran towards the pale head that had landed some feet away.

I didn't get too far. Sam had recovered fast and taken my tail between his teeth, throwing me away like I weighed nothing.

Rising to my feet after once again landing on the ground, ignoring the pain that shot up my ribs, I barked. I took off to chase after him again, determinated not to let him burn his head and finally kill him. If he wasn't completely burn down maybe there was still a chance for him to still live. We could easily talk to the Cullens. I had heard they forgave a young girl who was forced as well into that life without asking about their choices -stripped away from their families and friends. If someone knew something about being ripped away from them, it was me. And I wasn't about to not empathize with them. Maybe they couldn't go back to them, but it wasn't too late to try and make a change. Start a vegetarian life and end vampires who do present a danger to other humans. I could smell the female newborn the Cullens forgave not too far away, probably at the other side of the bonfire. I could easily save the boy and talk to the Cullens to take him in as well as with the girl. I would beg them myself if I had to, but there was no need to rip the boy from his life _again_.

As I ran with my mind made up, three wolves got in my way growling at me to stop. I knew they meant well, but they didn't see my point! I couldn't just stop and explain it to them now. I needed to save the boy first, then I could explain.

I tried to wave through their bodies, but they had all raised to their full height to defend their Alpha.

Embry growled when I tried to ran past him and threw me to the side. I caught myself, kicking the other wolf –who I guess was Jared- with a little more force than what I meant to when he grabbed my hind leg. I surprisingly got to Sam. The vampire's head was beside him, so ignoring all the unclear voices in my head, I ran for it.

I don't know if Sam assumed I was going to attack him or if he didn't want me to possibly save the vampire's undead life. Either way, he had enough and went for my neck. Literally.

I cried out when his teeth sunk into my neck and tried to get him to lose his hold on me, but that only made him bite on me harder. I could almost feel his angry energy touching me. He was _furious _and fighting to stay in control.

Finding no other solution I stayed still, trying to control my breathing.

Sam lowered his head little by little, lowering mine as well until I got the message and started lowering my head until my wolf head was flat to the ground. I was unwillingly left into a submissive position at his feet. A deep growl rumbled from the back of his throat, making me shiver.

When I let out the whine I could no longer hold in, he sunk his teeth a little deeper, hurting the flesh underneath my fur. I closed my eyes as I forced myself to take deep breaths to try and stop the shivers, whimpers and fear roaming through my body.

_Down,_ Sam snarled.

Not losing a moment, I quickly forced flat to the ground beneath me. The little rocks that scattered all around the grass digging painfully onto my stomach.

After some moments, my Alpha slowly let go of my neck and I could feel him rise at his full height in front of me with panting breaths, making me feel even smaller.

I understood the message, knew what it meant lying at my Alpha's feet, bowing to him. You were to submit to him, do as he said, follow him and –most importantly- _not attack him_ like I had just done. Never attack your pack brothers, especially your Alpha, unless it's out of self-defense or there are imprints involved. But even then, you bow to your Alpha. You bare your neck to him. No one had to explain it to me, it was something we all felt from the first time we phased. When I first saw Sam's wolf I just knew he was in charge, knew that he was not to be defied. He was the boss and he was there to guide us. It felt almost like we were kids and he was a parent. That guidance your Alpha, your _leader_ gave you it was like a parent would; and the way we looked up to him was the way a kid would look up to a parent as well. Attacking an Alpha, even just defying him was breaking some of our most powerful. To say I wasn't scared would be lying. I had just broke one of our biggest rules among the pack and for sure I'd be suffering the consequences.

Trying my best not to make it noticeable, I tried to bring one of my hind legs closer to my body and out of the awkward position it was left in. But as soon as I had twitched my leg, Sam's menacing growl refrained me from doing it so.

I closed my eyes tight and tensed my body, bracing myself.

_Sam, stop,_ Jacob spoke, reminding me of other's presence and making me aware of all the voices in my head that I had been ignoring. _You're scaring her_.

I opened my eyes to see him standing not too far away at my left. In front of him were both Embry and Jared as if rady to stop him from stepping towards me.

_Good_, Sam growled in response though he stepped back anyway. _She should be_.

Jacob was about to say something else when we all felt a new line of thought entering ours.

_What's taking you so long?_ Leah questioned, showing us annoyed flashes of everyone at Emily's kitchen asking the same thing, while Kim and Emily worriedly sat on the porch, anxiously waiting for their imprinters to come home safely. She seemed to take advantage of the situation by getting away from Emily and coming to ask.

_We're just finishing something. The guys will be there soon_, Sam assured thought slightly annoyed –but I couldn't tell if it was because of Leah's bitter line of thoughts or because of me.

Leah seemed curious and started to wonder about why he had made the distinction saying 'the guys' and not 'we'.

_No way!_ She exclaimed, almost excited.

_Embry_, Jacob scolded, trying to get him to stop thinking about what had just happened.

But the cat was out of the bag as now Leah had the images in her head. I flinched as I saw it through someone else's eyes. I had looked ridiculous, trying to take a wolf almost twice my size. I barely reached the others' snout. But Sam? I was thankful if I reached his shoulder.

The desperation in my eyes as I moved quickly towards him hadn't helped me look any better, it only made me look crazed. It was then when I felt truly embarrassed about my actions. The disappointment mixed with other emotions, filled the air as we all saw the same scene playing before us.

_The little pup tried to take you down? And I missed it?! Oh man_, Leah complained, not trying to hold back her amusement.

_Don't encourage her, Leah_, Jared reprimanded making me frown. The way he phrased it made me feel like a child.

_Just let the others know we'll be there soon_, her ex-boyfriend said firmly, clearly giving her the cue to go.

A '_whatever_' was her farewell before phasing back. She was always like that towards Sam, but even though she kept it short I could still sense her amusement with the situation before her thoughts were closed, disappearing from our heads as she became human again.

I felt bad for her at times. It wasn't easy being a girl in the pack. But having to follow orders from your ex who left you for your cousin? Ouch. I wouldn't be able to do. I would prefer just trying to ignore the urge to phase.

_I didn't leave her for her cousin. I imprinted. _You_ out of everyone should understand that_.

Had I been on my human form I would have blushed. _I'm sorry._

He was right, I did understand.

Images of Bella and Jacob invaded me. Even if our rare imprinting –that no one knew was possible until us- wasn't romantic, it was as if my wolf could feel what a threat Bella was to us and the importance she had held in Jake's life. Our bond ached in my chest whenever I knew he went to her, whenever he wondered what would of happened had he not met me nor imprinted, had Bella chosen him over Edward, if he hadn't come back from Italy… Sometimes he even wondered what would happen if he was with her anyway, how our wolves would react, because he knew I wasn't in love with him. That I cared for him, yes, but I cared like the best of friends do and he cared for me as if I was his own little sister. Yet, it seemed like it was still hard for him to love other woman romantically. Emily had assured me he was forcing himself to believe that he still wanted Bella out of stubbornness but I tried not to believe it. I wanted him to be happy, even if it was with her or even if it hurt. I wanted him to have his choices, even if I may have had taken away his biggest choice…

A noise pulled me out of my thoughts. Looking around I realized we were still in the clear, though Embry and Jared were not around.

Jacob made his way to me slowly, as to not startle me. He bent down, pressing his snout to the side of my head gently.

_You didn't take away my choice_, he whispered. _Alright?_

_Alright_, I tried to agree.

He gave me a wolfish smile, but our moment was soon broken by the sound of Embry complaining about 'yucky imprints' and the sound paws hitting the ground as Embry and Jared finished the job and joined us once again, waiting for the next order. Sam, still standing tall in front of me, refused to move even while the others finished the job, in a silent sign of dominance over me lying at his feet. Only Sam moved his head towards his left when a sickly sweet voice called his name.

Until now I hadn't realized some of the Cullens plus Bella were still around in the clear. I heard a voice like chimes and saw the petite brunette vampire warning the rest of her family about the Vultsomething coming –to which Edward quickly turned towards us telling us we had to leave. No one complained, but I did pretend to not see when Jacob quickly made his way towards his friend and licked her cheek, ignoring Edward's glare. For a moment I felt eyes on me, weighing my reaction. I pretended not to see and not to hear when Bella laughed, telling Jake off and that she would see him in a bit. I only moved my eyes towards him when I heard him bark happily, his mind looking forward for that moment and I felt a small pang in my chest.

The slight pain in my chest seemed to throb as he nuzzled her neck with his snout and licked her cheek again before running towards us once again, not seeing when she wiped off her cheek with her good hand and turned around to be in Edward's arms once again to join his pale family. As they walked Edward looked over his shoulder, giving me a compassionate look and a quick nod, kissing his girlfriend in her temple and leaning towards her to whisper in her ear.

I frowned. For some reason Edward seemed to be somewhat cordial towards me while he was borderline rude with the rest of the pack. Even when we were all working _with_ them to keep our people –and Bella- safe, most Cullens seemed a bit hostile at times. Specially him, though we all tried to keep it civil for the sake of the co-work. Still, Edward was never too rude with me. At first I had thought it was because I was a girl, but then I saw how they were towards Leah. Then I imagined it was because I was an imprint and not even he dared to mess with one, knowing just the importance it had an imprint within a pack of wolves. But even if the others seemed a bit cautious because of that reason –and how foolish sometimes Jacob acted during the training-, he didn't seem to mind or to be too careful about it. He was civil towards me but at times frowned upon remembering I was Jacob's imprintee. Maybe he pitied me, knowing the affection between his girlfriend and my imprint, but he was a mind reader and knew how our bond worked. He had explained it to the rude blonde when during the first training she leaned about our imprint bond, pointing out that I looked like 'just a giant pup' (something I constantly heard from others not being fully matured made me look way younger than the others… and I was), when Edward told her I was kind of one, just being twelve years old, they all went insane calling Jacob a pervert, pedophile and other ugly names until Edward explained that our imprint wasn't like that.

Maybe it was because I was young and they didn't think it was fair that I had been thrown into this life, falling into the supernatural world we actually lived in. I had once heard that he wasn't entirely happy with being a vampire and that he didn't want to condemn his mate to that kind of life. Even some wolves had trouble accepting the life we now carried, but there was no way anyone could blame them. All the normality had been thrown away the window the moment they landed in four paws.

Whatever it was, I wasn't complaining. I always liked nice, respectful people. I had trouble getting along with people who were rude, hence my issues with Paul. Hopefully, his imprint would change his manners a bit.

I jumped a foot in the air when I felt teeth on the back of my neck pulling me upwards. For a moment I had forgotten I was under Alpha's command and soon to probably face a punishment.

Standing back on my four legs I thought Sam would let me go by now, but apparently he wanted to make a point because he started to drag me by my neck towards the trees surrounding the clearing. Luckily for me they weren't too far away, reminding me the way my dog carried her puppies when they were still young. Thank God I was an oversized wolf so he couldn't easilt lift me –even if he did once-, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing.

_Let's go_, the Alpha told the other three wolfs as they made a run for the woods, Jacob stopping for a moment looking between me and Sam, wondering if he should step up. He decided against it because one, he knew I had it coming and two, Sam was already pissed, there was no need to let his fury fall on someone else too.

* * *

><p><em>Hello, hello! This is the first actual chapter of my first story ever in here, so I hope you enjoy it and don't hate on me too much haha.<em>

_This story isn't going to be fully romantic right away, seeing as Salali is only twelve. The fact that Jacob imprinted on her doesn't exactly make the bond a romantic one, and that is going to be something very important in the story. But, for those who love romance, the story will have romantic moments in the right moment with the right people._

_I know it's not perfect but I'm just starting at this 'wrtting & sharing' thing. So I'm all ears, willing to listen to advice._

_Hope you like it. And please, if you have an opinion, let me know in the reviews! I would really appreciate to know what people think about this and if you think it's worth me updating it._

_Goodbye and have a good start of the week! :) _

_AlitaMae xx_


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